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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Just to Help 

Some Poems for Every Day 



BY J 

AMOS R. WELLS 




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United Society of Christian Endeavor 
Boston and Chicago 



48984 



|L.}bp«.i.-y of Con^resB 

} 'v*L CypjES RECfcweo 
SEP 18 1900 

Copyright entry 

SECOND COPY. 

OSOtrt DIVISION, 
OCT 13 1900 



P5 3545 



Copyright, 1900, 

by the 

United Society of Christian Endeavor 



PREFACE 

By the exercise of strenuous self-denial, in the in- 
terests of my readers rather than of my vanity, I 
have kept out of this volume all my more ambitious 
poems, and included here only those bits of verse that 
suit the title. These poems are ''just to help." 
There is not one of them but springs from life, and 
so there is hope that some of them will cheer the lives 
of others. That is my purpose, and that is ambition 
enough for any book. 

The poems appeared originally in the following 
periodicals, whose editors and publishers have kindly 
consented to the present collection : Harper' s Weekly , 
The Independent, The Outlook, The Congregational- 
ist, The Advance, Pansy, The Churchman, The 
RanCs Horn, The Housewife, The Christian Advo- 
cate, and The Christian Endeavor World. 

Amos R. Wells. 

Boston. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Charioteer 7 

One Life at a Time 8 

One Day's Service 10 

Nearer 11 

^The Length of Life n 

Thanksgiving Deferred 12 

The Comparative Degree 13 

The Choice of the Star 13 

A Song of Faith 15 

Getting and Giving 15 

My Past Which Is to Come 17 

The Time Will Come 19 

Requitals 20 

Clothed Upon 20 

Begin at Home 22 

Roots 23 

Our Alabaster Box 24 

Longevity 24 

Heart Songs and Home Songs 24 

Sympathy 25 

A Helper 26 - 

«• Walk in Love " . . . 27 

5 



6 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

A Song of Young Christians 27 

The Christmas Spectrum 29 

The Opening 29 

Now's THE Time 31 

Jim's Coats 32 

A Railroad Song 33 

Why Not To-Day ? 35 

A Prayer for Song 3^ 

The Castle of Twenty Years Hence 37 

The Little Dog Barked at the Buggy 39 

Put On the Shoe Ai 

A Recipe for a Day 42 

I Pack My Trunk 43 

He Took Time to Die 44 



Just to Help, 



THE CHARIOTEER. 

O God, take the reins of my life ! 
I have driven it blindly, to left and to right, 
In mock of the rock, in the chasm's despite, 

Where the brambles were rife, 
In the blaze of the sun and the deadliest black of the 
night. 

O God, take the reins of my life ! 

For I am so weary and weak. 
My hands are a-quiver and so is my heart. 
And my eyes are too tired for the tear-drops to start, 

And the worn horses reek 
With the anguishing pull and the hot, heavy harness's 
smart. 

While I am all weary and weak. 

But Thou wilt be peace, wilt be power. 
Thy hand on the reins and Thine eye on the way 
Shall be wisdom to guide and controlling to stay, 

And my life, in that hour. 
Shall be led into leading, and rest when it comes to 
obey; 
For Thou wilt be peace and all power. 
7 



8 JUST TO HELP. 

Now, Lord, without tarrying, now ! 
While eyes can look up and while reason remains, 
And ray hand yet has strength to surrender the reins. 

Ere death stamp my brow 
And pour coldness and stillness through all the mad 
course of my veins — 

Come, Lord, without tarrying, now ! 

I yield Thee my place, which is Thine. 
Appoint me to lie on the chariot floor ; 
Yea, appoint me to lie at Thy feet, and no more, 

While the glad axles shine. 
And the happy wheels run on their course to the 
heavenly door, — 

Now Thou hast my place, which is Thine. 



ONE LIFE AT A TIME. 

If the dead came back, — 
If in some shadowy glen their forms might meet us. 
Or from some wandering wind their voices greet us, 
Or if, in all earth's strange or common places. 
We might have hope to see the dear, dead faces, 
Hope by keen eyes or hearing to discover 
The father, sister, husband, wife or lover. 

From death come back, — 

Life would be all a watching and a waiting, 
A standing tiptoe at the mystic grating, 
A pleading for the blessed shapes to linger, 



JUST TO EELP. 9 

Straining to touch them with a doubting finger, 
Chattering wildly of the past, and suing 
Wildly for pardon of our evil doing 
Before they died. 

Their pardon, lacking God's, would still content us; 
We should walk blindly in the way they sent us ; 
Follow no unseen Christ, nor seek the portal 
Of that unseen, faith-conquered life immortal. 
We should be serfs to sight, if out of heaven 
To our crude eyes so crude a boon were given, — 
Our dead come back. 

And soon, distracted with this double showing. 
Half earth, half heaven our doubtful senses knowing, 
Labor would languish into dreams and fancies. 
Duty be dazed by blinding sunward glances. 
The world would grow less real, nor heaven come 

nearer. 
Our dear ones be no happier nor dearer. 
Should they come back. 

No happier — ah, no ! How selfish-hearted 
Who wishes back the blessedly departed. 
Back from their sunny peace and swift-winged power 
Into our cares that clog and woes that lower. 
Just that our faithless, fretful eyes may view them 
A few brief years before we shall go to them. 
When we are dead. 

Ah, God knows best, one life at one time giving, 
Sparing to fret us with a double living, 



10 JUST TO HELP. 

A clash of mysteries, two worlds, two missions, 
Two stern and strange and masterful conditions. 
My prayers I turn to praise, O God in heaven, 
That to my wail this boon Thou hast not given, — 
My dead come back. 



ONE DAY'S SERVICE. 

O TO serve God for a day ! 

From jubilant morn to the peace and the calm of 
the night 
To tread no path but His happy and blossoming way, 

To seek no delight 
But the joy that is one with the joy at heaven's heart ; 
Only to go where Thou art, 

O God of all blessing and beauty ! to love, to obey, 
With obedience sweetened by love, and love made 

strong by the right ; 
Not once, not once, to be drunken with self, 

Or to play the hypocrite's poisoned part. 
Or to bend the knee of my soul to the passion for 
pelf, 
Or the glittering gods of the mart ; 
Through each glad hour to lay on the wings of its 
flight 
Some flower for the angels' sight : 
Some fragrant fashion of service, scarlet and white, 
White for the pure intent, and red where the pulses 
start. 



JUST TO HELP. 11 

O, if thus I could serve Him, could perfectly serve 

Him one day, 
I think I could perfectly serve Him forever — forever 

and aye ! 



NEARER. 



Closer is the Lord's protection 

Than a near investing wall ; 
Closer than a moat around me, 

Closer than a tower tall ; 
Closer than a suit of armor, 

Or my flesh and soul can be ; 
For against my own assailing 

His protection keepeth me ! 



THE LENGTH OF LIFE. 

Are your sorrows hard to bear ? 

Life is short ! 
Do you drag the chain of care ? 

Life is short ! 
Soon will come the glad release 
Into rest and joy and peace ; 
Soon the weary thread be spun, 
And the final labor done. 
Keep your courage ! Hold the fort 1 

Life is short ! 



12 JUST TO HELP. 

Are you faint with hope delayed ? 

Life is long ! 
Tarries that for which you prayed ? 

Life is long ! 
What delights may not abide, — 
What ambitions satisfied, — 
What possessions may not be 
In God's great eternity? 
Lift the heart ! Be glad and strong ! 

Life is long ! 



THANKSGIVING DEFERRED. 

I BLESS Thee, Lord, who hast restored my sight; 
Where were my thanks through all my years of light ? 

Thou liftest me again ; Thy praise I tell ; 
Where was my gratitude before I fell ? 

Thou healest me ; glad thanks to Thee belong ; 
Alas, my thankless heart when I was strong ! 

My fetters Thou dost loose ; all praise to Thee ! 
And yet I praised Thee not when I was free. 

I bless Thee, who dost all my ills remove ; 
But ah, when all was well, where was my love? 



JUST TO HELP. 13 

THE COMPARATIVE DEGREE. 

What weight of woe we owe to thee, 
Accurst comparative degree ! 
Thy paltry step can never give 
Access to the superlative ; 
For he who would the wisest be, 
Strives to make others wise as he. 
And never yet was man judged best 
Who would be better than the rest ; 
So does comparison unkind 
Dwarf and debase the haughty mind. 

Make not a man your measuring-rod 
If you would span the way to God ; 
Heed not our petty '' worse " or '' less," 
But fix your eyes on perfectness. 
Make for the loftiest point in view, 
And draw your friends along with you. 



THE CHOICE OF THE STAR. 

Far away where space is lonely. 

In the ether driftings far. 
With a twilight glimmer only, 
Shone a star. 

All the lordlier suns about her 

Shot their fingers in her face. 
Shook their flaming locks to scout her 
Modest grace. 



14 JUST TO HELP. 

Underneath those fiery fingers 

She reflected back a smile, 
As, the hot sun gone, still lingers 
Light awhile. 



Came the day of all the eons, 

Came the thrones that kingliest are, 
Searching through the Lord's dominions 
For a star. 



Passing with swift eyes and holy 
Those proud suns vainglorious, 
' Come," said they to her, the lowly, 
*' Come with us." 

Sped they through the starry mazes, 

Fleet as thoughts of God they sped. 
With the growing of all graces 
On her head ; 

With the glowing and the growing 

Of a soft, imperial light. 

Fed within her by the flowing 

Of that flight ; 

Till, the herald of the era 

Of God's blessed Avatar, 
Flamed she forth upon Judea, — 
Bethlehem's star ! 



JUST TO HELP. 15 

A SONG OF FAITH. 

O THE fog is abroad, 

And the landscape is marred, — 

But the sun's in the east ! 
And the mist will soon quiver and rise 
And dissolve to the green of the wood and 
the blue of the skies, 

For the sun's in the east. 

Not a song of a bird 

Or a child-note is heard, — 

But the sun's in the east ! 
And a thrill will soon break from the trees, 
And the merriest babble of children join 
carol with these. 

For the sun's in the east. 

Now arouse thee, my soul. 
In the gloom and the dole, 

For the sun's in the east ! 
What to thee though the darkness be dumb ? 
There's a music, a splendor, a heaven of 
glory to come. 

While the sun's in the east ! 



GETTING AND GIVING. 

I ASKED the Lamp about his light. 
But he knew not what I meant. 
"In getting, getting," he humbly said, 
" My eager time is spent. 



16 JUST TO HELP. 

The wick affords the strengthening oil ; 

Inspiring gas, the air ; 
So weak ! so hungry ! food, more food !- 

That is my only care." 

I asked the Fire about his heat ; 

He could not understand. 
<' For getting, not for giving out," 

Said he, *' my hfe is planned. 
Why, what am I to comfort you ? 

Dull, heavy, stupid, I ! 
More oxygen ! more oxygen ! 

That is my only cry." 

I asked the Saint about the grace 
His shining life expressed. 
" My thought is all of getting help," 

The blessed soul confessed. 
<' God's pardon, God's indwelling love, 
By day, by night I seek. 
How could I strengthen other men 
With all my life so weak ? ' ' 

And yet the fire was darting heat, 

The lamp was flashing light. 
And all that saw my saint approach 

Grew happy at the sight. 
For heat and light and holy life 

Refuse to be confined ; 
They need no will, they ask no way, 

They leap from fire and mind. 



JUST TO HELP. Vi 

Ah, you who fear your feeble life 

Will fail of God's command 
To win the sinner, praise the saint, 

And reach the helping hand, — 
Confused no more with doubtful tasks 

The busy years shall roll ; 
One work is yours and one alone : 

Get God within your soul. 

If God were dwelling there indeed, 

Then doubt and all unrest, 
And fear of lack that causes lack, 

Were treason to your Guest. 
Submit to Him His instrument, 

And He will work His will 
In His own way, in His best way ; 

So trust Him, and be still. 



MY PAST WHICH IS TO COME. 

With cymbal's clang and tap of drums 
The brave Salvation Army comes. 
While hallelujah lass and lad 
Peal out their march-songs wild and glad. 
Behind them troops a motley throng, 
Led by the spirit-moving song, 
And swift the leader sweeps them all 
Into the rough Salvation hall. 



16 JUST TO HELP. 

Pauseless, the eager hymn and prayer 
And exhortation beat the air, 
Till many a hardened heart is stirred 
By some bold, God-directed word. 

Now falls a hush. A voice well known, 
Though strangely softened in its tone, — 
A girl's voice, lately taught to win 
Its accents back from words of sin. 
Trembles in'untried prayer, that flies. 
Rude-winged, straight upward to the skies. 

'* O God, forgive my guilty past ! " 
The low voice stammers at the last, — 

" And in the past which is to come, 
O Father, keep me ! " 

How the dumb 
Speak giant words when Christ within 
Has loosed the dwarfing bands of sin ! 
Full well she knew, poor penitent, 
The evil with her nature blent. 
She knew the guilty past would seek 
Her white, new future, frail and weak ; 
And at Christ's feet her fear she cast : 

<*Lord, save me from the coming past ! " 

Well for us all to make our own 
The poor Salvation lassie's groan ! 
Base habits, hated, half subdu'ed ; 
The evil plan ; the action rude ; 



JVST TO HELP. 19 

White lies, grown black ; the writhing thought ; 
Weak worries, born of faith distraught, — 
All will return, or first or last. 
Lord, save us from that coming past ! 



THE TIME WILL COME. 

The time will come 
When, though the hottest fire on earth shall leap 
To warm the currents through thy veins that creep, 
No August flame or mild September glow 
Thy wintry heart and ice-bound blood shall know. 
Hast thou the fire of love, devotion's heat. 
An eager, flaming soul wherewith to meet 

That chilling time ? 

The time will come 
When, though the sweetest bells on earth should ring, 
The noblest organ peal and chorus sing, 
Men shout thy praise and love's wild pleading call, 
Thou shalt be deaf and distant from it all. 
What hymn hast thou in store, what words of cheer, 
What spirit voices for thy spirit ear 

In that still time? 

The time will come 
When, though the landscape roll its beauty far. 
Though fair the skies and woods and rivers are. 
Though dearest loving faces look on thee, 
No gleam of all shall thy strained vision see. 



20 JUST TO HELP, 

Hast thou prepared some prospect of delight, 
Some opening vistas for thy trembling sight 
In that dark time ? 

Ah, if that time 
Follow a lifetime filled with work and love, 
Then, while the old world dies, the heavens above 
Shall burst to warmth and fragrance, sight and sound, 
While glad remembered faces flock around, 
And strength comes back and more, and joy, far more, 
Skill, beauty, music, o'er and o'er and o'er, 

Through endless time ! 



REQUITALS. 

Hast a present ? Be not swift 
To return a gift for gift. 
Thus the shallow mirror's face 
Backward flings the approaching grace. 

Rather ape that magic plate 
Where the chemic forces wait 
Some appeal of joy, to laugh 
In a lasting photograph ! 



CLOTHED UPON. 

Within and over and around 
This dancing swirl of human sound 
Are tones that we can never hear 
With our dull range of mortal ear. 



JUST TO HELP. ' 21 

Amid, encircling, and above 

The sights we loathe, the scenes we love, 

Sunbeams of dearest beauty die 

In darkness on our sluggish eye. 

Into those sounds was rapt the Word 
The common people gladly heard ; 
Into that light, from mortal view 
The Light of all the world withdrew. 

Some day will crash, on land and sea, 
The parting clouds of mystery ; 
Some day a mighty light be lit, — 
Disclosure of the infinite. 



Then, flashing on new ears and eyes, 
The sights and sounds of paradise 
Will come, exalting in their train 
The Man of Nazareth again. 

For that great day we fashion here 
The heart and hand, the eye and ear. 
Within these clay-bound bodies grow 
The bodies heaven or hell shall know. 

May I my lasting casement find 
Not halt or crippled, deaf or blind. 
But meet for all that heaven is, 
A perfect cup for perfect bliss ! 



22 JUST TO HELP. 

Within these hands, outstretched to aid, 
Be hands of power and beauty made ; 
Within these feet, that Christ's ways go. 
May feet swift-winged for heaven grow ; 

Be ears, with loving listening warmed. 
To angel-hearing ears transformed. 
While looks of human sympathy 
Form eyes for all eternity. 



BEGIN AT HOME. 

No home so unwise as the teacher's 

That teaches only abroad ; 
No home so accursed as the preacher's 

That tells only strangers of God. 

Ah, there *s many a world's care-taker 
Whose house lacks neatness and grace, 

And there 's many a merrymaker 
Whose home is the saddest place. 

And I wonder if up in heaven, 

Where homes are of priceless worth, 

Christ's " many mansions " are given 
To the home-neglecters of earth. 



JUST TO HELP, 23 

ROOTS. 

Brother of toil ! what nobler theme 
Could Homer, Dante, Milton, dream, 
Than just this homely commonplace 
That weaves the substance of our days ? 

Aloft the stately-headed pines 
May lift their proud serrated lines 
Far to the face of heaven, and mock 
The lightning's flash, the tempest's shock. 

Unless, deep grubbing in the ground, 
The toughly crawling roots were found, 
Unless those miners in the dark 
Dug food for fibre, leaf, and bark ; 
Unless those tendrils all unknown 
Kept a good grip on soil and stone, — 
Where would the pompous branches be 
That silly poets solely see ? 

Ours be the grubbing in the dirt. 

The strain that wears, the tasks that hurt. 

Ours be the part of pallid roots, 

While others pose as purple fruits. 

Last shall be first, in God's great plan, 

O humble-working artisan ! 

In heaven the happy roots behold 

Treasured in soil of shining gold ; 

After the stress and the strain of their strife, 

Set in the bank of the River of Life ! 



34 JUST TO HELP. 

OUR ALABASTER BOX. 

Be kingly prodigal of time, for use 
In God's sweet service. 'T is a jealous cruse 
That holds thy life from love's anointing wide. 
Shatter it grandly. See ! an eager tide 
Of fragrance and of healing ministries, 
Wrought on the Lord if on '' the least of these " ; 
And see ! the ragged edge, the flakes fallen down, 
Form, at His word, thine alabaster crown ! 



LONGEVITY. 

For the busy worker 
Fleet the minutes run ; 

For the groaning sluggard 
Crawls a languid sun. 

Would you live a 1-o-n-g life ? 
Live a lazy one ! 



HEART SONGS AND HOME SONGS. 

Heart songs and home songs. 

In drear and cheery weather, 
And you, love, and I, love. 

Singing them together. 
Tear fall, and year fall, 

And time full-handed ever, 
Yet heart songs, and home songs, 

And you and I together. 



JUST TO HELP, 25 

Sweet is the sunlight 

For giving and for getting, 
And sweet is the night, love, 

When holy stars are setting. 
Eye light and heart light, — 

Good-bye to fear and fretting ; 
For love knows a sunshine 

That never knows a setting. 



Heart songs and home songs, 

And you and I to sing them ; 
Heart joys and home joys, 

And happy years to bring them 
Doubts come from demons, — 

To deepest ocean fling them ; 
For life songs are love songs, 

And you and I must sing them. 



SYMPATHY. 



When her little baby frets and cries, 

The tender-hearted Mrs. Rue 
Just wrings her hands, and heaves great sighs, 

'< Boo-hoo-hoo-o-o ! " 

And — she cries, too ! 
There they sit and cry together. 
And oh ! there's a spell of rainy weather ! 



36 JUST TO HELP. 

When her little baby frets and cries, 

The tender-hearted Mrs. True 
Just laughs with her mouth, and smiles with her 
eyes, — 

** Cock-adoo-doo-o-o ! " 

And — baby laughs, too ! 
There they sit and crow together. 
And oh ! there's a spell of sunny weather ! 



A HELPER (True). 

*^Dear me ! " wailed all the household 
A Monday morning chorus — 

*^ How can we ever finish 

The work that lies before us ? " 



But midway in the wailing 

Our groans to laughter shifted, 

For Babe was in the corner. 
His hands devoutly lifted. 



** Why, Babe ! This isn't bedtime ! " 
We cry when we discover. 

"I fought I'd thay my pwayers, 
And det just that much over. 



JUST TO HELP. 27 

"WALK IN LOVE.'* 

Walk in love," — the little midget, 

On that happy Children's Day, 
Short of memory, long of fidget, 

Had but this wee verse to say. 
And she said it ! Shrilhng highly 

All the children's hum above, 
Her sweet face averted shyly. 

Thus she said it : *' Walk in. Love ! " 

Ah, my dainty little maiden, 

Though the roomful laughed at you, 
Yet that rendering is laden 

With a meaning wise and true. 
Teach us, dear, to throw wide open 

Doors where waits the heavenly Dove ; 
Ever be that glad word spoken, 

Morning, evening : '^ Walk in. Love ! " 



A SONG OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 

With a scoff for the old and a shout for the new, — 
It is thus that the young serve God ; 

Reaching out for the bold, reaching up for the true. 

With an eager, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to 
do?" 

With the shallower view and the broader view ; 

And the eye that sees roses but never sees rue, — 
It is thus that the young serve God. 



28 JUST TO HELP. 

With a zeal that is more for the start than the close, — 

It is thus that the young serve God ; 
With courage that counts not the number of foes, 
Looking more to the blows than the purpose of 

blows, 
Lance equally tilting for substance and shows, 
And head that aye ' ' knows somewhat more than it 
knows," — 
It is thus that the young serve God. 



But their prudence, God bless them ! will grow with 
their years, 
As the young grow old, serving God ; 
Soon enough will they seek the sad ambush of fears, 
Their vision look deep through the well of their 

tears 
And cynicwise back of the form that appears, 
While Failure derides and Misanthropy leers, 
As the young grow old, serving God. 



O young Man of Galilee, aye a young man. 
That never grew old, serving God, — 
Not the young with their follies are under Thy ban. 
But the hearts that are seared, and the timid, whose 

plan 
Weakly tries to do only the things that it can ! 
Their feet Thou wilt guide, and their zeal Thou wilt 
fan. 
As the young grow old, serving God. 



JUST TO HELP. 2J 

THE CHRISTMAS SPECTRUM. 

Seven points hath the Christmas star : 

One is the love that shines afar 

From God to man ; and one is the love 

That leaps from the world to the Lord above ; ' 

And one is good will on the happy earth ; 

And one is purity, one is peace, 

And two are the joys that never cease, — 

God's joy, 

Ma*n's joy, — 
Aflame in the star of the wonderful Birth. 

And the light of God's love is a golden light, 

And man's love to man is crimson bright, 

And man's love to God is an azure ray, — 

Alas, when it flickers and dies away ! 

And the seven rays through the worshipping night, 

Like the flash of all jewels, exult and play, — 

God's joy, 

Man's joy, — 
Yet they shine as one, and the star is white. 



THE OPENING. 

The Castle of Delight, I heard. 

Is barred, at entrance, with this word 

" None but a hero here may rest. 
And they who honor him the best." 



30 J US 2' TO HELP. 

And so I fought on land and sea, 
And many bent their knees to me, 

And with my faithful troops, in state 
I marched up to the castle gate. 

But bugle call, nor ram, nor mine. 
Moved on its hinge the door divine. 

I taught my tongue the sacred skill 
To move men's souls to meet my will, 

And with the applauding crowd, elate, 
I sought again the castle gate. 

But they who held those towers gray 
Were deaf to all that I could say. 

I lived in caves afar from man, 
I thought deep mysteries to scan, 

And with disciples in my train 
I sought the castle gate again. 

But all the hermit's sanctity 
Would not unbar the gate for me. 

Then I went home, my longing spent ; 
My hands I clinched, my back I bent. 

/ t^id whatever nearest came. 
I won a friend to do the same 



UST TO HELP. 31 

One day while walking, he and I, 
We chanced to pass the castle by, 

And all in sport the gate I tried, 
When lo, the portal opened wide ! 

And lo, a strangely beauteous sight 
Appeared the Castle of Delight ! 

We entered in with right good will, 
And there we two are living still. 



NOW'S THE TIME. 

If a poem you would write, 

Now's the time ! 
Ne'er was epic yet or sonnet 
Captured but by leaping on it ; 
Pegasus, depend upon it. 

Knows his time. 

If you have a task to do, 

Now's the time ! 
Now, while you've a notion to it ; 
Now, while zeal will help you do it ; 
Or in shame you'll hobble through it, 

Out of time. 



32 JUST TO HELP. 

If you have a word of praise, 

Now's the time ! 
Should the sky, while flowers are growing, 
Stint its gracious dew-bestowing. 
Ne'er would come the rainbow glowing 

Blossom time. 



If you have a kiss to give, 

Now's the time ! 
Lips, like flowers, soon are faded. 
Life-blood pallid, checked, and jaded, 
If they are not love-o'ershaded, 

Kissed in time. 



If you have a prayer to pray, 

Now's the time ! 
Not to every hour are given 
Upward look and open heaven ; 
Oh, be strengthened, gladdened, shriven. 

While there's time ! 



JIM'S COATS. 

When Jim has got a new coat, 
It makes his Sunday wear ; 

But for his home or office, — 
The old coat answers there. 



7 



JUST TO HELP. 33 

When Jim ''put on the new man," 

'Twas Sunday wear for him ; 
The other days, '' the old man " 

Was good enough for Jim. 

When Jim has got a new coat, 

Who ever would believe 
To-day he'd wear the collar, 

To-morrow wear the sleeve ? 
But when Jim wears *' the new man," 

He thinks it is no crime 
To cut the coat, and wear it 

A little at a time: 



Now Jim's old coat is crooked, 

And crooked too is Jim ; 
For Jim, he twists his garments. 

His garments, they twist him. 
If Jim would wear '' the new man, 

That coat cut straight and true, 
On Sundays ajid on weekdays, 

I think he'd straighten, too ! 



A RAILROAD SONG. 

Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry ! 

That is what the railroad said ) 
Hurry to your work o' mornings, 

Hurry to your restless bed. 



34 JUST TO HELP. 

There's the whistle, hurry, hurry, 
Break into a trot and run, 

Heart a-thumping, brain a-bumping, 
Hurry till your work is done. 

Flurry, flurry, flurry, flurry ! 

That's the engine spluttering; 
Eat your breakfast in a hurry 

And digest it on the wing. 
Make your plans, be quick about it ! 

Do your thinking in a rush ! 
Learn to hustle, crowd, and bustle; 

Use your elbows ! pull and push 1 

Worry, worry, worry, worry ! 

That's the railroad's undertone, 
Belting our distracted country 

With a universal moan. 
Worry, worry, frown and worry 

With the first faint gleam of light. 
Worry through the wrinkled daytime, 

Worry through the fevered night. 

Hurry, hurry, flurry, worry, — 

Oh, the folly of it all ! 
Oh, that on our troubled spirits 

God's enfolding peace may fall ! 
Yes, through all the clash and turmoil 

That our earthly spaces fill. 
One calm Voice is ever calling ; 

Let us hear it : << Peace, be still 1 '" 



JUST TO HELP. 35 

WHY NOT TO-DAY ? 

There's a happy time a-coming when your worries 
will be over, 
When your blues will all be golden and your 
frowns all smoothed away, 
When your soul will be in merriment, your fortune be 
in clover; 

Why not to-day ? 

There's a happy time a-coming when you'll count the 
gold of heaven 
As you balance up your ledger, — what you get and 
what you pay ; 
When you'll raise your human spirits with the angels' 
happy leaven ; 

Why not to-day ? 

There's a happy time a-coming when your hatreds 
will be buried, — 
In the sea of love be buried, and be anchored down 
to stay ; 
Brother-love will come to bless you, o'er those 
charmed waters ferried ; 
Why not to-day ? 

There's a happy time a-coming when your eyes will 
see with wonder 
All the beauties and the graces of the friends about 
your way ; 
And you'll hasten then to praise them e'er your lives 
be torn asunder ; 

Why not to-day ? 



36 JUST TO HELP. 

There's a happy time a-coming when the sin so long 
your master 
Will be grappled with and wrestled with in fierce, 
determined fray, — 
When God's grace will drive it from you and your 
hate will drive it faster ; 
Why not to-day ? 

There's a happy time a-coming when the task so long 
neglected 
Will be manfully attempted with no instant of delay, 
And your noble resolutions into high result erected ; 
Why not to-day ? 

There's a happy time a-coming when all good in 
earth and heaven, 
When all power and all promise will be yours for 
aye and aye ; 
You are eager, God is eager, — for the asking all is 
given ; 

Why not to-day ? 



A PRAYER FOR SONG. 

Oh, the freshness of the morning, and the glory of 

the noon. 
And the splendor of the night-tide with the holy stars 

in tune ! 
The ground has voice, the trees rejoice, the birds 

their carol bring. 
And I alone among them all have not a song to sing. 



JUST TO HELP. S7 

There's music in the cloud drifts, there's a chorus in 

the flowers, 
There's a symphony of fragrance through the pleasant 

summer hours. 
And mountain-top to mountain-top flings out a mighty 

song. 
While I alone am coldly dumb amid this chanting 

throng. 

Awake, O God, my sluggish soul and stir my tongue 
to praise. 

Let loving, loyal anthems rise from all my nights and 
days. 

Lord, take away my shame among this soulless, sing- 
ing host ; 

I know Thee better far than these ; oh, let me 
praise Thee most ! 



THE CASTLE OF TWENTY YEARS 
HENCE. 

I'm a common young fellow, I don't own a mine, 
And I needs must look after the pence, 

Yet, my lad, I am the lord of a castle divine, 
The castle of Twenty Years Hence. 

I have worries and flurries and trial and doubt, 

I have trouble of body and brain. 
Like all of the creatures that travel about 

These highways of joy and of pain. 



38 JUST TO HELP. 

But a leap of the mind, lad, and lo ! I'm secure 
From those sorrows of soul and of sense, 

For I've entered a fortress where solace is sure, 
The castle of Twenty Years Hence. 

What matters it, pray, though some scoffers may say 
That there is no such castle at all ? 

Or in life or in death they must enter, some day, 
Its open and opulent hall. 

And .what matters it, pray, that my body must stay 
Firmly bound by the stern present tense. 

Since my spirit is free, and has fled far away 
To the castle of Twenty Years Hence ? 

Oh, the walls of that castle are built of delight 
And its floors have a carpet of peace ; 

As I pass the wide portal my sorrows take flight, 
And all my sad worriments cease. 

The fumes of to-day, and the frets of to-day. 

They are nothing, when looked at from thence ; 

Yes, a mount to a molehill may dwindle away 
When gazed at from Twenty Years Hence. 

For its windows, my lad, have a marvelous skill, 
As I view all the path I have trod ; 

They can soften its hardness, and blot out its ill, 
And show me the goodness of God. 



JUST TO HELP. 39 

When the world is awry, lad, and fortune unkind, 
And the storm-clouds are angry and dense. 

Take a leap in your mind and I think you will find 
Your castle of Twenty Years Hence. 



THE LITTLE DOG BARKED AT THE 
BUGGY. 

Mr. Downey O' Gloom, with pardonable pride 
In his horse and his buggy, went out for a ride. 
The road was all level, his horse it was gay, 
Great arches of greenness o'ershadowed the way, 
There was joy in his heart and a light in his eye, 
And he gave a brisk nod to the folks he flew by, 
And his lips were just framing themselves to a song, 
So merrily, cheerily bowled he along. 

When — a little dog barked at the buggy; 
O dear ! 

A terrier barked at the buggy. 

The horse did not mind it, but Downey got mad, 
And he — thought — an expression decidedly bad ; 
And he whipped at the dog, but he missed him, of 

course. 
And he scowled at the sidewalks, and jerked at the 

horse. 
While the terrier, plainly quite dogged in mind. 
With barking obstreperous, followed behind, 



40 JUST TO HELP. 

And Downey O' Gloom, in a mood far from sweet, 

Went whirling along the sedate village street, 
While the little dog barked at the buggy ; 

O dear ! 
The terrier barked at the buggy. 

And Downey no more had a song in his throat. 
For his heart was attuned to the terrier's note; 
And Downey no more had a light in his eye. 
For that one little cur overshadowed the sky ; 
And the road grew uneven with many a jolt, 
And the new buggy rattled in linchpin and bolt. 
And the trees gave no shade, and the friends he 

passed by 
All flung him a bantering cast of the eye. 

For — the little dog barked- at the buggy; 
O dear ! 

The terrier barked at the buggy. 

Fellow-drivers that speed on life's road to death's 

doom, 
Let us see our own image in Downey O' Gloom ! 
How often we travel with laughter and song. 
Till some cross little worry comes barking along. 
And then, like a flash, all the sunshine is dead, 
And bare are the boughs of the trees overhead. 
And the road is all ruts, and the birds fly away. 
And the peace is all gone from the heart of the day, 

While the little dog barks at our buggy ; 
O dear ! 

The terrier barks at our buggy. 



JUST TO HELP, 41 

PUT ON THE SHOE. 

Have you heard that old saw of the Persians, 

That saying both witty and true, 
The wide world is covered with leather 

To him who is shod with a shoe ' ' ? 
Fine calfskin or kid or morocco, 

Great cavalry boots armed with steel, 
The daintiest, jauntiest slippers, 

Coarse brogues tumbled down at the heel — 
What matter the differing fashions ? — 

The richest and poorest of you 
Will find the whole world clad in leather 

As soon as you put on your shoe ! 
Before, it was cold and uneven. 

Rough pebbles and sharp bits of glass. 
Now, presto ! a smooth and warm pavement 

Wherever it please you to pass. 

But ah ! there's a maid — have you seen her ? — 

A Httle maid cheery and sweet. 
Who daintily trips, yet I note not 

What leather she wears on her feet ; 
For I know by her sunny eyes' sparkle, 

And by the calm curve of her mouth, 
And by the kind grace of her manners. 

Like warm breezes fresh from the South, 
I know that wherever her foot falls, 

On loving task speeding or sent, — 
The cobbler may laugh, but I care not, — 

She is shod with the shoe of content I 



4^ JUST TO HELP, 

And, little maid, since Cinderella 

Might claim your wee shoe for her own, 
And borrowing's out of the question 

For me, with my " sevens " outgrown, 
Just whisper the secret, I pray thee, 

Come, what is the shop and the street, 
And where is the cobbler who fashions 

Such beautiful gear for the feet ? 
I'll go and I'll offer a treasure 

Will make his big spectacles shine, 
If only two shoes — somewhat larger — 

Like your little shoes, can be mine ! 
And then I will don them, and leaping 

Off over the world will I go, 
Off over my frets and my worries. 

Off over my aches and my woe. 
And loudly to all limping grumblers 

My shoemaker cheer shall be sent : 
'* The whole world is covered with gladness 

To him who is shod with content ! " 



A RECIPE FOR A DAY. 

Take a little dash of water cold, 
And a little leaven of prayer. 

And a little bit of morning gold 
Dissolved in the morning air. 



JUST TO HELP. 4« 

Add to your meal some merriment, 

And a thought for kith and kin ; 
And then, as the prime ingredient, 

A plenty of work throw in. 

But spice it all with the essence of love 

And a tiny whiff of play ; 
■ Let a wise old Book and a glance above 

Complete the well-made day. 



I PACK MY TRUNK. 

What shall I pack up to carry 
From the old year to the new ? 

I'll leave out the frets that harry. 

Thoughts unjust, and doubts untrue. 

Angry words — ah, how I rue them ! 

Selfish deeds and choices blind, — 
Any one is welcome to them ! 

I shall leave them all behind.. 

Plans ? the trunk would need be double. 

Hopes? they'd burst the stoutest lid. 
Sharp ambitions? last year's stubble ! 

Take them, old year ! Keep them hid ! 

All my fears shall be forsaken. 

All my failures manifold ; 
Nothing gloomy shall be taken 

To the new year from the old. 



44 JUST TO HELP. 

But I'll pack the sweet remembrance 
Of dear Friendship's least delight ; 

All my jokes — I'll carry them hence; 
All my store of fancies bright ; 

My contentment — would 'twere greater ! 

All the courage I possess ; 
All my trust — there's not much weight there ! 

All my faith, or more, or less ; 

All my tasks ! I'll not abandon 

One of these, my pride, my health ; 

Every trivial or grand one 
Is a noble mine of wealth. 

And I'll pack my choicest treasures. 
Smiles I've seen and praises heard, 

Memories of unselfish pleasures, 
Cheery looks, the kindly word. 

Ah, my riches silence cavil ! 

To my rags I bid adieu ! 
Like a Croesus I shall travel 

From the old year to the new ! 



HE TOOK TIME TO DIE. 

There was an old fellow who never had time 
For a fresh morning look at the Volume sublime. 
Who never had time for the soft hand of prayer 
To smooth out the wrinkles of labor and care. 



JUST TO HELP. 45 

Who could not find time for that service most sweet 
At the altar of home where the dear ones all meet, 
And never found time with the people of God 
To learn the good way that the fathers have trod ; 

But he found time to die ; 
O yes ! 

He found time to die. 

This busy old fellow, too busy was he 

To linger at breakfast, at dinner, or tea 

For the merry small chatter of children or wife, 

But led in his marriage a bachelor life ; 

Too busy for kisses, too busy for play, 

No time to be loving, no time to be gay, 

No time to replenish his vanishing health. 

No time to enjoy his swift-gathering wealth ; 

But he found time to die ; 
O yes ! 

He found time to die. 

This beautiful world had no beauty for him ; 
Its colors were black and its sunshine was dim. 
No leisure for woodland, for river, or hill, 
No time in his life just to think and be still. 
No time for his neighbors, no time for his friends, 
No time for those highest immutable ends 
Of the life of a man who is not for a day. 
But, for worse or for better, forever and aye. 

Yet he found time to die? 
O yes! 

He found time to die. 



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